DNA

Tamil cinema often explores the complexities of marriage. From marital discord due to forced marriage to people falling out of love, and hoping the other one falls into love, we have seen various facets of marital life be explored in our films. And when director Nelson Venkatesan introduces a distraught Anand (Atharvaa) and a chirpy but disturbed Divya (Nimisha Sajayan) in his latest film, DNA, the stage was set for yet another exploration of two random people deciding to live their lives together. This is a space Nelson has excelled in, right from his debut film, Oru Naal Koothu, which dealt with the idea of marriage. Even in Monster, although the primary story was a man-rodent conflict, it spoke about companionship, empathy, and loneliness. And it was a culmination of all of these themes in his third film, Farhana. However, in DNA, Nelson lets go of his strong suit to put on an armour of investigative drama, and is unable to balance both with the required panache.

Tamil director Nelson Venkatesan has been in the industry since 2016. Nearly a decade in Kollywood, the filmmaker is just three films old, and all three films have made noise for their themes and filmmaking style. After the underrated ‘Farhana, he returns with his fourth offering, ‘DNA’, starring Atharvaa and Nimisha Sajayan. Anand (Atharvaa) is a brooding alcoholic drifter who is struggling to come to terms with life after a breakup. Divya (Nimisha Sajayan) is a naive woman diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, who often gets branded as paithyam (a derogatory Tamil term for someone with mental illness). One good-for-nothing man deserves a woman with a condition – this is what both families decide as they come together for a marriage of convenience. But, Anand and Divya navigate through this and find love in each other. He is a man who makes life easier for Divya, while she is a woman who lights up his life. When they get pregnant and are all set to step into their lives as new parents, tragedy strikes - Divya finds out that the infant handed over to her is not her child. Anand, who initially doubts Divya, eventually believes her and takes the police’s help to find their missing child.